About Hypertension

JaCkYDaNdA asked:


Hypertension or high blood pressure. What will I recommend to people who have this kind of disease?

Jeff

sliverofmoon2000 asked:


Does the government help people in their 50’s afford medication for hereditary conditions or are we left to fend for ourselves until we are 65?

Nicole

Corwin Brown asked:


As blood flows through arteries it pushes against the inside of the artery walls. The more pressure the blood exerts on the artery walls, the higher the blood pressure will be. The size of small arteries also affects the blood pressure. When the muscular walls of arteries are relaxed, or dilated, the pressure of the blood flowing through them is lower than when the artery walls narrow, or constrict.

Types of Hypertension:

Primary or essential hypertension means that the cause is undetermined or unknown and accounts for 90-95% of all cases of high blood pressure.

Secondary hypertension means that the high blood pressure results from an underlying, identifiable, often correctable cause such as kidney disease, adrenal disorders, thyroid disorders, coarctation of aorta, oral contraceptives, alcohol, or others.

Does Alcohol Consumption Cause High Blood Pressure?

Although the media has widely publicized the beneficial effects of alcohol on the heart, it must be remembered that this applies only to moderate alcohol intake. People who have more than two drinks per day are much more likely to have sustained elevations in blood pressure than nondrinkers. Alcohol may therefore be an unrecognized cause of hypertension in a large number of moderate to heavy drinkers.

Hypertension is typically treated by making changes in your lifestyle, and with drug therapy. Weight decrease and routine aerobic drill (e. g. jogging) are recommended as the best steps in treating balmy to conservative hypertension. Regular balmy drill improves blood flowing and helps to cut resting eye pace and blood force. Stress administration, biofeedback and meditation may assist you cut your blood force. Relaxation therapy, such as meditation, that reduces environmental strain, higher stable levels and over-illumination can be an extra method of ameliorating hypertension.

Natural treatment also suggests certain herbal remedies such as Withania somnifera, Convolvulus pluricaulis, Passiflora, and Ginkgo biloba. Garlic is also recommended as a routine ingredient of diet since it has the power of being a blood thinner. However, be cautious when taking herbal supplements, only using according to the advice of a physician since herbal alkaloids may interfere the balance of the body functions.

Massage:

Massage may be particularly helpful for people with hypertension brought on by stress. One recent study revealed that people with hypertension who receive massages showed significant reductions in blood pressure. In addition, massage tends to help people stick with healthy behaviours such as healthy eating and non-smoking.

Vitamin C is also useful for many metabolic functions. It has also been found recently to help regulate blood pressure. While studies haven’t yet shown it effective at reducing diastolic pressure, it definitely can help reduce the systolic reading. Calcium and magnesium are two supplements that are helpful in reducing blood pressure. You should keep blood pressure information in the form of blood pressure readings to cure high blood pressure. A blood pressure monitor may be very helpful.

Physical treatment is helpful for hypertensive patients. Meditation is one of the methods that hypnosis the brain for thorough relaxation and peace of mind. This in turns helps lowering the blood pressure. Nevertheless, this treatment should be conducted under the guidance of experienced experts or specialists.

Robert

Ashish Jain asked:


The hypertension symptoms are probably one of the most discussed medical issue because clear reasons of hypertension is yet to be ascertained by medical scientists. The disease is often termed as silent killer as you carry hypertension for years without knowing that you are afflicted with it. Before you would diagnose yourself with it, it would have done enough damage to your body.

These facts suggest that it is difficult to trace hypertension as there is no clear symptom to depict mild hypertension. If you are suffering from persistent high blood pressure of less severity you are likely to remain ignorant of it till your blood pressure level rises very high.

I must relate a startling yet thought provoking fact of our country. Around fifty five million Americans are said to be suffering from hypertension and out of which fifteen millions are not aware of their high level of blood pressure.

Although there exists no clear symptom of hypertension, doctors have been found diagnosing the problem with certain general symptoms such as severe and consistent ache in the back of head. There are certain other complications also, prevalence of which indicates probable high blood pressure. For example, people identified with high cholesterol could be tested for hypertension as it happens to be almost certain that they are afflicted with high BP too. Similarly Type 2 diabetics are very much prone to it.

Some times bleeding from your nose could be due to surge in blood pressure. So you must not take nose bleeding casually. Dizziness could also be taken as a symptom of high blood pressure. In fact it indicates hypertension of very higher level.

You may also identify high blood pressure with blurred vision. It is another probable symptom of high BP. Breathing abnormality, fatigue and perspiring abnormally could be symptoms associated with hypertension.

You must check against hypertension if you are vomiting out frequently. Some times even nausea happens to be an outcome of high level of blood pressure.

But all these symptoms are based on probability. You may or may not get identified with hypertension if you are showing these symptoms as these general symptoms could exist due to other complications too.

However there are certain risk factors that strongly advocate possibility of the complication. For example, obese folks are destined to develop hypertension. Similarly, people living under constant stress are very much susceptible to it.

To sum up, I suggest all of you to be extra careful to combat this silent killer. I also suggest you to constantly keep track of your BP with the help of blood pressure measurement tools.

Joann

Candice D asked:


I know I should shy away from salt, and I believe that means processed and canned foods too, correct? I was just recently diagnosed with hypertension (could be postpartum, so we are watching it closely and I am on Benicar HCT) and want to do all I can to reduce my BP. Thanks!

Phillip

Jason Rickard asked:


Hypertension in its simplest sense means ‘high blood pressure’. Medical science calls this condition, ‘arterial hypertension’, but hidden beneath the apparent simplicity of the term is the face of a silent killer. This silent killer can invariably trigger a heart attack, stroke, arterial aneurysm, eye damage, or a complete renal failure out of the blue, and no one will have any hint or clue that something was boiling inside for a worst outcome. Hence it is important that hypertension be diagnosed and treated at the earliest, before things get out of hand.

The important question is how to find out if a person is suffering from arterial hypertension. The biggest roadblock in diagnosing hypertension is the virtual absence of any solid symptom as it may normally be called a characteristic of high blood pressure. In other words, a person, even if suffering from hypertension, may not show any apparent symptoms. Every thing will look normal and the person may be as cheerful and healthy as a child. It is only when something happens that one might take note of the developments. In some cases unfortunately, things might have gone to the anvil by then.

Of course that does not mean that all types of hypertension are without any symptoms. Severe cases of hypertension may be accompanied with headache, sleeplessness, dizziness, and in a worse case, coma. In such instances, diagnosis will be a lot easier and quick, but again timely treatment is very crucial.

On the basis of the causes leading to hypertension, this medical condition can be classified into primary hypertension - or essential hypertension - and secondary hypertension. The causes for primary hypertension are mostly unknown. And to make matters even more complex, it is such cases that are reported the most. On the other hand, secondary hypertension will have some definite underlying causes, which in most cases may be a medical issue such as alcohol abuse, endocrine tumors, hormonal problems or kidney disorders. Again, if the exact causes are known, hypertension can be treated and contained easily, but it will be more of a gamble in the other cases.

Treatments for Hypertension

The treatments for hypertension mostly include a mix of medication and a disciplined lifestyle. Here it must be noted that none of this will work if taken independently. Someone with hypertension needs to follow the prescriptions punctually meanwhile adopting a health lifestyle marked by a controlled diet and regular workout/physical exercise.

Finally, one must also realize that an existing issue of hypertension could be aggravated by activities like smoking, drinking, and medicines containing steroids. Therefore, take care to avoid such things as well from one’s daily activities.

After all, remember the age old adage that health is wealth!

Clarence

Juliet Cohen asked:


Essential hypertension is referred to hypertension. There are two broad categories of primary(essential) of hypertension and secondary hypertension. Essential hypertension is a medical state in which the blood pressure is chronically high. Essential hypertension is a blood pressure which is uniformly higher than the normal when no cause for hypertension can be found. Essential hypertension affects 75 million Americans roughly. One thinks of the genetic factors to play a part ahead in the development of essential hypertension. The genetic factors which affect the system of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone.
Approximately 30% of case of essential hypertension are ascribable to the genetic factors. Essential hypertension in common have a particular anomaly of the arteries: an increased resistance (lack of elasticity) in the tiny arteries which are furthest away from the heart. Blood and the food oxygen-containers of offer of small arteries to all fabrics of the body. The small arteries are connected by capillaries in fabrics to the veins (the venous system), which returns blood in the heart and hypertension of lungs. Essential is often confused with the mental tension, effort and concern.
Essential hypertension is usually controllable with the suitable treatment and the perpetual monitoring. There are many classes of the drugs for the essential hypertension of treatment, these of the drugs called the antihypertensifs. the adjusters of Calcium-channel reduce the tension of muscle in the arteries, increasing them and creating more part for the flow of blood. The reduction of weight and the regular aerobic exercise are recommended like first stages in the soft treatment to moderate hypertension. The regular soft exercise improves the flow of blood and assistance to reduce the heart rate at rest and the blood pressure.
Lifestyle changes can help to reduce your blood pressure. This includes the regular exercise, including the loss of weight if you are excessive weight. The therapy of relieving, such as the meditation, which reduces the environmental effort, reducing the high noise levels and the with-top-illumination can be an additional method to improve hypertension. The tobacco of suspension employ and the alcohol consumption was shown with hypotension. Dietetic adjustments to lower grease and to modify sodium in your mode. Salt, MSG, and the bicarbonate of soda all contain sodium.

Mathew

Alien asked:


Millions of people are affected by high blood pressure (hypertension), a condition in which blood travels through the body’s arteries at a pressure too high for good health. High blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs is called pulmonary hypertension (PHT). The blood pressure measured by cuff on your arm isn’t directly related to the pressure in your lungs. The blood vessels that supply the lungs constrict and their walls thicken, so they can’t carry as much blood. As in a kinked garden hose, pressure builds up and backs up. Although the terms primary pulmonary hypertension (meaning of unknown cause) and secondary pulmonary hypertension (meaning due to another medical condition) still persist in materials disseminated to patients and the general public, these terms have largely been abandoned in the medical literature. This change has occurred because the older dichotomous classification did not reflect pathophysiology or outcome.

The heart works harder, trying to force the blood through. Nearly 50 million Americans have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension). It occurs when blood travels through the body’s arteries at a pressure too high for good health.

It is most commonly found in women between ages 20 and 40. However, men and women in all age ranges — as well as very young children — can develop PPH. There are two main kinds of pulmonary hypertension. One runs in families or appears for no known reason. The other kind is related to another condition, usually heart or lung disease. The most common cause of pulmonary hypertension is left heart failure leading to pulmonary venous hypertension (WHO Group II). This may be due to systolic or diastolic malfunction of the left ventricle or due to valvular dysfunction such as mitral regurgitation, mitral stenosis, aortic stenosis, or aortic regurgitation. It usually manifests as pulmonary edema or pleural effusions.Treatment is determined by whether the PH is arterial, venous, hypoxic, or miscellaneous.

What are the signs of pulmonary hypertension?

Common signs of pulmonary hypertension are getting short of breath with activity, feeling tired, fainting and having chest pain. Symptoms usually limit a person’s ability to exercise and do other activities.

What is the treatment?

The first priority is to raise the oxygen level in the blood with oxygen therapy. Children who respond to pulmonary vasodilators, which are medications that relax the muscles in the blood vessel walls and cause the blood vessels to widen, are treated with calcium channel blockers. Calcium channel blockers help the heart to pump blood by relaxing the smooth muscle in the walls of the heart. Patients who don’t respond to a vasodilator are treated with prostacyclin, which is another drug that dilates the blood vessels. The child may also be given additional medications to treat heart failure, if present. In secondary pulmonary hypertension, surgery may be necessary to correct any known cause. Patients who do not respond to any treatment may need a lung transplant.

Emily

james sameul asked:


Hypertension (defined as a blood pressure  140/90 mmHg) is an extremely common comorbid condition in diabetes, affecting  20–60% of patients with diabetes, depending on obesity, ethnicity, and age. In type 2 diabetes, hypertension is often present as part of the metabolic syndrome of insulin resistance also including central obesity and dyslipidemia. In type 1 diabetes, hypertension may reflect the onset of diabetic nephropathy. Hypertension substantially increases the risk of both macrovascular and microvascular complications, including stroke, coronary artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, and possibly neuropathy. In recent years, adequate data from well-designed randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of aggressive treatment of hypertension in reducing both types of diabetes complications.Treatment  HypertensionThe most recent committee highlighted ALLHAT’s findings in the revision of its guidelines, meaning the information will now be used for practical treatments. The committee states that when compared to calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors and alpha blockers, thiazide-type diuretics are better first-line drug treatments for hypertensive patients. The diuretics excelled in controlling blood pressure, preventing cardiovascular events, are well tolerated by patients and are relatively inexpensive.Methods We randomly assigned 3845 patients from Europe, China, Australasia, and Tunisia who were 80 years of age or older and had a sustained systolic blood pressure of 160 mm Hg or more to receive either the diuretic indapamide (sustained release, 1.5 mg) or matching placebo. The angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitor perindopril (2 or 4 mg), or matching placebo, was added if necessary to achieve the target blood pressure of 150/80 mm Hg. The primary end point was fatal or nonfatal stroke.Pills as a treatment for hypertension have hardly solved the problem. Even if you’re taking pills, your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease is still at least two to three times higher than that of people whose blood pressure is optimal – 110/70 or less.Slightly raised blood pressure may not need to be treated so aggressively, but regular monitoring is important.If you have very severe high blood pressure, you may need to go to hospital for treatment. But it’s much more likely that you will be cared for by your GP and/or a nurse.The results of OHTS proved that topical medication does reduce the incidence of glaucoma. After five years of following the patients recruited, we determined that eyedrop treatment reduced the development of glaucoma by more than 50 percent.Most clinicians would consider some type of treatment for patients whose diastolic pressure (the bottom number) is above 95 and/or whose systolic pressure (the top number) is above 160. For patients with pressures immediately below these figures (140-160/90-95), the doctor will take into account age and other individual factors before recommending any medical treatment.In the past there have been observations that people over 80 with higher than average blood pressure do better than those with low blood pressure but that’s not necessarily because high blood pressure’s good for you. It’s more that at that age having low blood pressure is often a sign you have something serious wrong with you. Another fear was that blood pressure treatment would make people dizzy and more likely to fall.

Clinton

Jason Rickard asked:


The state of having high blood pressure is also referred to as hypertension. You are a possible candidate for hypertension if your blood pressure is higher than 140/90 mmHg.

Hypertension can originate from a lot of things. For one thing, improper diet with increased intake of fatty and high-cholesterol food can cause hypertension. Emotional disturbances can also heighten the risk of hypertension. Sometimes, doctors cannot point out the root cause of hypertension but for those which reasons are determined the solution is more apparent.

If you have some problems with your kidney’s blood vessels then the chances of acquiring hypertension is higher. Renal parenchymal and renal vascular diseases are the two most common kidney ailments that can cause hypertension.

A pregnant person is also susceptible to hypertension as during pregnancy, major changes happen in a woman’s body. When a body adapts to the baby growing inside her, even though these changes are all regarded as normal, some of these activities can eventually lead to hypertension. Expectant moms that have a record or a lineage of heart problems are advised to be extra careful during the entire pregnancy stage.

Using birth control pills can also be a factor as these pills are known to have some side effects. The change in the body’s blood pressure is the primary side effect of taking pills.

If you any heart problems, chances are, your blood pressure becomes erratic. Your blood pressure can either be low or high, depending upon the reaction of your heart and your body.

If hypertension persists, there are different problems that could arise out of it. People with hypertension can contract a stroke at anytime. The chances of stroke are very high.

Hypertension can also cause faulty vision. When the fine blood vessels of the eyes break because of high blood pressure you could have blurry vision, which can even lead to blindness. Hypertension can also damage the kidneys as the kidney’s blood vessels can thicken with high blood pressure.

A way to be free of hypertension is to regularly check your blood pressure. Doing that is very essential for a fuller, healthier life!

Anita